What is greatness? How can I accomplish great things? Isn't history replete with men and women performing extraordinary feats? What about me? I want to do amazing things with my life. In the simple yet profound musical "Pippin", written by Stephen Schwartz, the title character finds himself stuck in a provincial ho-hum existence and announces to the world (in the song "Extraordinary"), "I've got to be someone who lives all of his life in superlatives. When you're extraordinary you gotta do extraordinary things. Oh, give me my chance and give me my wings and don't make me think about everyday things. They're unnecessary to someone who is very extraordinary---like me!" Greatness is achieved not despite the everyday challenges of life but by using the commonplace, run-of-the-mill tasks to develop our aptitude and prowess to such a degree that great deeds are not exceptional instances but become a way of life. Even as the Pages and Squires of Medieval times worked tirelessly to master the lance, broadsword, court etiquette, horsemanship, etc. on their quest to become a recognized knight of the realm -- just as the Samurai's "Bushido" training required years of rigorous daily discipline in jujitsu (weaponless combat), fencing, naginata (Japanese spear), calligraphy, music, ethics and physical stamina -- just as David spent years tending his father's flocks, practicing with his smooth stones and slingshot to defend against lions and bears before he slew Goliath, so must we understand the law of perseverance and sacrifice if we are to achieve mastery and be ready to accomplish great things when the circumstances present themselves. Whether it be mathematics, dance, architecture, doing the dishes, rocket science or raising children, the principles are the same. By continually honing those basic skills on the smaller, seemingly mundane tasks, when the day comes that the monumental task presents itself, there will be no question as to how it is done, nor IF it can be done. When that day comes, I will not with trepidation, merely attempt to accomplish the task. I will not think twice. I will focus my thoughts and energies like I have done numerous times before and just do it; for I AM discipline; I AM focus; I AM perseverance; I am the many other essential skills I have developed over those years of training and discipline. It is now a part of me, not an idea I dream about or a concept I have heard others postulate on. Aristotle taught the concept: 'We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act but a habit.' I have propagated for years that 'the path to accomplishing great deeds is to consistently accomplish small deeds in a great way.'

Along with the development of the skill being rehearsed, we learn other skills not so conspicuous to the casual onlooker. Let us consider the "wax on, wax off" principle. In the movie, "Karate Kid" a profound precept that underlies all learning is taught. The skills we are attaining during any given training regimen are not necessarily those transparently discernible. There are skills inherent in everyday actions that when understood and developed as the object of the exercise, are powerful and transferable to other disciplines; often opening the gates for us to do that which we previously thought we could not, and in a field unrelated to that for which we were training. Whatever the skill set, with practice, the student will be bound to exclaim, 'That which used to be impossible is now possible, and after an extended period of dedicated persistence, that which used to be merely possible, became easy, even second nature to me; it is like walking. It is just who I am. It's what I do.' As Ralph Waldo Emerson so eloquently penned, “That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed but that our power to do has increased.” Being developed in perfect tandem with the skills being focused on are other precious, even invaluable attributes, those without which we have no hope of success in any worthwhile endeavor: focus, teamwork, communication, compassion, social and personal responsibility, respect, goal-setting, perseverance, etc, Oh how desperately we need these values taught to our men and women and especially to our youth and children. Having traveled to the disparate corners of the earth and worked with every strata of society, I can with confidence declare that the true epidemic ravaging our earth's population is not bacterial or viral, it is spiritual. It is apathy.

In the immortal words of Theodore Roosevelt, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

High achievement is not the hallmark of greatness. James Allen explains, "The thoughtless, the ignorant, and the indolent, seeing only the apparent effects of things...[will] remark, "How chance aids him at every turn!" They do not see the trials and failures and struggles which these men have voluntarily encountered in order to gain their experience; have no knowledge of the sacrifices they have made, of the undaunted efforts they have put forth, of the faith they have exercised, that they might overcome the apparently insurmountable, and realize the Vision of their heart." True greatness cannot be measured in a single glorious accomplishment, nor is it found in titles, laurels or accolades. Some of the most ennobling acts of humanity are never seen by the masses: the kind hand of a mother picking up her child for the umpteenth time and wiping a tear away with a healing kiss, the father who pushes himself year after year to go through daily grinding work when he wishes he were somewhere else doing practically anything else, but deems it worth the sacrifice for his dear family. These are the unsung heroes that make the world a better place and unconsciously lift all of humanity, spending the days of their lives developing dexterity of the soul, artistry of the heart and literacy in the language of love. Greatness is a matter of character and like Rome, character traits are not built in a day. Greatness is only achieved by continued effort in right living, in standing up every time you fall down, and in learning how to create a masterpiece out of the mundane.